​​Sex Education:  Issue Summary |  Current Legislation | Key Articles and Reports | Historical Background

Sex Education

Issue Summary
​The Caucus supports comprehensive sex education: honest, age-appropriate, and medically accurate sex education that  includes abstinence as a choice and provides young people with the information they need to protect themselves. Research shows that sex education provided in this manner has positive lifelong benefits. Studies have shown that young people who go through “abstinence-only” programs are less likely to use contraception and protect themselves when they become sexually active. Making matters worse, many of these "abstinence-only" programs include blatantly false and inaccurate information. There is overwhelming public support for factual sex education.
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Current Legislation
Comprehensive Sexuality Education (S2584-A Brouk/A6616 Nolan, Gottfried)
This bill requires public and charter schools to provide comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) to students in grades kindergarten through twelve. CSE shall be age appropriate, medically accurate, and inclusive of all students. This bill provides for the NYSED Commissioner in consultation with the NYSDOH Commissioner to develop a sexuality education program, draft regulations, and make recommendations to the Regents. Boards of Education shall establish advisory groups to make recommendations regarding the curriculum, content, and evaluation of sexuality education. A process will be created for parents to opt their children out of sexuality education.
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Key Articles and Reports
Healthy Relationships: A Plan for Improving Health and Sexual Education in New York City Schools
​This report, by New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer, is intended to provide a statistical foundation to the Council by assessing the state of health instruction in city schools today, examining some of the most worrisome health trends among teenagers, outlining the associated costs of addressing those trends, and establishing the connection between sexual health education and effective prevention. The report then recommends a series of reforms based on best practices from other cities aimed at helping students develop healthy, informed outlooks on their own sexuality and that of others.

REPORT: BIRDS, BEES AND BIAS
Many public school districts across New York State provide sex-ed instruction that is inaccurate, incomplete and biased, according to Birds, Bees and Bias: How Absent Sex Ed Standards Fail New York’s Students. This report examines sex-ed materials used during the 2009-2010 and 2010-11 school years from across New York State.

2017 Year In Review: Gaining Ground Proactive Reproductive Health and Rights Legislation in the States (NIRH): The National Institute for Reproductive Health’s (NIRH) mission is to help build a society in which everyone has the freedom and ability to control their reproductive and sexual lives. In the current political climate, proactive policy change that advances that mission might seem out of reach—but in reality, state advocates, legislators, and governors are moving forward every day with innovative policies that will improve the daily lives of the residents of their states. The goal of this report is to encourage greater advocacy for such affirmative policies and to help demonstrate that real change is possible, ongoing, and being driven by advocates and lawmakers at the state and local levels. ​
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Historical Background
  • 1918

    "The Chamberlain-Kahn Act mandates soldier education on syphilis and gonorrhea."

  • 1919

    "The U.S. Department of Labor’s Children’s Bureau releases a report suggesting sex education during school could have better protected soldiers from STIs."

  • 1920's

    "Sex education is introduced in high schools."

  • 1930's

    "The US Office of Education first publishes sex education materials and trains teachers."

  • 1964

    "Sexuality Information and Education Council of the US (SIECUS) is founded."

  • 1968

    "The US Department of Education gives NYU a grant to develop graduate programs for training sex education teachers."

  • 1960's

    1960's - 1970's

    "Sex education becomes a political [issue]; parents start protesting it in schools."

  • 1981

    "Adolescent Family Life Act passed; funds 'chastity' and abstinence-only education."

  • 1990's

    "Every state has a mandate for AIDS education."

  • 1991

    "The first Guidelines for Comprehensive Sexuality Education – Kindergarten-12th Grade is published."

  • 1993

    "SCOTUS rules that federally-funded sex education programs must delete direct references to religion."

  • 1996

    "The Welfare Reform Act includes a provision that provides tens of millions of dollars to abstinence-only programs."

  • 2000

    "The Special Projects of Regional and National Significance–Community-Based Abstinence Education adds $31 million to the federal funding stream for abstinence-only programs."

  • 2004

    "The Content of Federally Funded Abstinence-Only Education Programs (The Waxman Report) is released and shows such programs contain inaccurate and misleading information."

  • 2007

    "The Trenholm study finds four federally-funded abstinence programs are ineffective at changing young people’s sexual behaviors."

  • 2008

    "President Bush requests $242 million for abstinence-only funding; Congress approves $176.83."

  • 2009

    "Obama administration budgets $114.5 million to support evidence-based programs. The majority of the funds are earmarked for replicating these programs."

  • 2014

    "22 states and the District of Columbia mandate sex education while 11 more mandate HIV education."

  • 2017

    Today, New York State mandates HIV/AIDS prevention for students in K-12, as well as health education; however, there is no mandate that requires sex education. The BPCLC supports mandating age-appropriate, comprehensive, and medically-accurate sex education.

Source:
  • The History of Sex Education, National SexEd Conference: http://sexedconference.com/the-history-of-sex-education/
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